Stephen Port accused of chemsex serial murders 'called sister to tell her there was a corpse in his bed'

Trial: Stephen Port is accused of murdering four men at his Barking flat by giving them lethal doses of date rape drug GHB
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The older sister of alleged serial killer Stephen Port said he called her in a panic to say there was a dead body in his bed, the Old Bailey heard.

Sharon Port, 44, said she was oblivious to his secret chemsex lifestyle, adding he was “frantic” when she got the call in August 2014, telling her brother to go straight to the police to report what had happened.

But she told jurors: “I never knew about the drugs or his lifestyle or anything.”

Port, 41, is accused of murdering four men at his Barking flat by giving them lethal doses of date rape drug GHB, as well as allegedly raping a string of other men he had drugged.

Miss Port said she got a call from her brother as she was leaving work in Clacton-on-Sea, and spoke for about ten minutes about the body of a young man in his flat.

“He just said that there was a body in his flat – I just told him to go to the police right away”, she said.

“I was frantic about it, it’s not the sort of thing you hear every day, it was worried.

Stephen Port featured in an episode of BBC's Masterchef
BBC

“I just wanted him to drop everything and go to the police station, then ring me when he comes out.”

Miss Port said she discovered that her brother liked to take drugs when he explained the events leading to the man dying in his bed, though he did not explain exactly how the man had died.

“He stayed the night with my brother, and when he woke up in the morning he wasn’t moving”, she said.

“They had taken some drugs but I didn’t know what.”

She said she drove to Barking the following day with her partner, taking Port out to lunch but they did not discuss much about his night at the police station.

“He said he was on bail and that was it really, I assumed it was all sorted so I just came home and that was that really.”

She said Port, who was bullied “a lot” at school, revealed he was gay when in his mid-20s, causing upset to his mother who wanted him to have a family.

“I always kind of knew, being his sister, that he was gay”, said Miss Port.

“I was always OK with it, it was never a problem. My mum had a problem with it, she is a little bit old fashioned.

Stephen Port, 41, is accused of four killings over 15 months in Barking, East London
Sky News

“Mum wanted grandchildren, I never have them so she relief on my brother but he didn't either so she never became a nan.”

She told jurors she met some of Port’s boyfriends, who were often young and slim.

“In the last ten years he did like younger guys. That's because my brother never wanted to be old, he never liked getting older - they kept him young.”

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC has told the jury Port is accused of murdering four men while satisfying his desire for sex with someone who is drugged and unconscious.

He said so-called “drug rape” turned him on, and Port, a chef by trade, liked to film the attacks to live out his fantasies.

Miss Port received the phone call from her brother after the death of fashion student Anthony Walgate, 23, who was found dead propped up against a wall outside the block of flats in Cooke Street when Port lived.

He spent four months in prison after admitting perverting the course of justice in relation to the death, but is now being tried for Mr Walgate’s murder.

Port, a former chef at a bus garage in West Ham, is also accused of murdering tourist Gabriel Kovari, 22, a chef, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and forklift truck driver Jack Taylor, 25.

Their bodies were found dumped in a churchyard opposite Port’s flat, and one, Mr Whitworth, had a suicide note Port is accused of writing after killing him.

Port also faces charges that he drugged eight other men, raping five, subjecting one to sexual activity against his will, and two managed to get away before they could be attacked, all between 2011 and 2015.

He used drugs including poppers, viagra, mephedrone or Meow Meow, crystal meth, and GHB, jurors have been told.

Port denies four counts of murder, four alternative counts of manslaughter, four counts of administering a poison with intent to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm, seven counts of rape, six counts of administering a substance with intent to overpower to allow sexual activity, and four counts of sexual assault by penetration.

The trial continues.

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